1885.] Kitchen Garden Esculents of American Origin. 455 
The species is classed as American by Unger, and is described 
in 1635 under the name Phaseolus puniceo flore, by Jac. Cornuti, 
in his Canadensium Plantarum Historia, and in 1640 by Parkin- 
son under the name of P. flore coccineo Four forms are described 
by Martens? under Phaseolus multiflorus Savi., two of these, the 
black and the white seeded, were cultivated by Titius in 1654 
under the name P. indicus flore miniato, semine negro and semine 
albo, the names indicating a West Indian origin; one, the scarlet 
runner, was first mentioned by Cornuti, 1635 ; and the fourth, the 
P. multiflorus bicolor Arrabida, was first described in the flora of 
_ Rio Janeiro, 1827. It is now grown in gardens in Europe, and 
is mentioned for India by Firminger.$ 
But three varieties are known to our seedsmen, the scarlet run- 
ner, the seeds black mottled with dull lilac; the painted lady, 
the seeds brown mottled with creamy white; and the white or 
Dutch with white beans. 
Cucumber—One species of cucumber, Cucumis anguria L. (C 
echinatus Moench., C. angurioides Roem., C. sylvestris americanus, 
_ angurie folio Pluk., &c., C. asininus Piso, according to Naudin) is 
considered to be of American origin by botanists from Tourne- 
fort down to our own day, and its habitat is given by Naudin as “An- 
tilles, Continental Tropical and Sub-tropical America, Brazil, New 
Granada, South Florida.” De Candolle* seems to think its Amer- 
ican origin doubtful, and is disposed to refer it to tropical Africa. 
Naudin, the authority on Cucurbitacez, refers to this species the 
guarerva ova, or C. asininus of Piso, 1658, found wild in Brazil; 
Sloane, 1707,° evidently describes this or an allied species in 
Jamaica; Long, 1774,° speaks of it as growing wild there, 
and it is mentioned as growing plentifully there by later writers, 
as Lunan’ and Titford® In Barbadoes it is mentioned by Hughes, 
1750, under the name “ wild cucumber vine.” 
“ Cucumbers” are mentioned by a few of the early writers on 
American affairs. They were among the plants grown by the 
1 Miller’s Dict. : 
2 Die Gartenbohnen. 
3 Gard. in India, 151. 
Origin of Cult. Plants, 267, 441. 
5 Nat. Hist, of Jam., 1, 227. 
ê Jam., 801. : 
8 Hort. Bot. Am., 100. 
9 Schomburgh, Hist, of Barb., 593. 
